STREAM FLOW IS LOW IN MUCH OF THE WEST

Stream flow in much of the West may be below average again, an Agriculture Department report said Wednesday.

The department's Soil Conservation Service said that based on snowpack and precipitation data, stream flows are expected to be less than 70 percent of normal in all or parts of eight states: All of California and Nevada, central Utah, south-central Idaho, northwestern Colorado, southern and eastern Oregon, eastern Wyoming and central Arizona.William Richards, SCS chief, said the below-average forecasts result from below-average precipitation last fall and snowpack accumulations this winter.

The agency said three states - Colorado, New Mexico and Washington - report reservoir water supplies above 100 percent of the average level. Reservoirs were lowest in Nevada at 8 percent of average.